The New York Yankees have returned to their winning ways at the right time, as they enter Wednesday with a four-game lead over the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East division race. At the same time, the Yankees’ superstar duo have snapped out of their slumps as they gear up for the postseason.
Aaron Judge and Juan Soto are back to their MVP forms
Aaron Judge and Juan Soto continued their stellar seasons with big games Tuesday against the Seattle Mariners. Judge delivered two hits and four RBIs and Soto smashed home run No. 40 on the season. That home run was the 200th of his big league career and was also the 30th ballpark he has homered in.
Additionally, Soto and Judge became just the third duo in Yankees’ history to hit 40 or more home runs in a season, joining Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig (done three times), and Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris in 1961, per MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch.
September started off slow for both Yankees’ sluggers
September had gotten off to a slow start for both Judge and Soto. In the first 11 games of September, Judge hit just .195 with an OPS of .570 and had not hit a home run for 16 consecutive games, the longest stretch of his career. Then, Friday night against the Boston Red Sox, he hit a dramatic go-ahead grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning to snap the homer drought and has since returned to his MVP form.
Judge is now 6-for-13 in his last four games and has driven in 10 runs while clobbering two homers. He now has 53 home runs on the year, and while there may not be enough time for him to break his own home run record set two seasons ago, he has cemented his case for AL MVP and is locked in right before the postseason, which is exactly what the Yankees need.
As for Soto, he began to break out of his late-August slump during the Texas Rangers series earlier this month, but was silenced in the next two series against the Chicago Cubs and Kansas City Royals, going for 3-for-21 in those six games. The Red Sox series began his turnaround, getting his first walk-off hit as a Yankee last Thursday night.
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The Yankees can clinch a playoff spot on Wednesday
If the Yankees are able to enter the playoffs with both of their superstars on hot streaks at the plate, then they will be in a great position to make a World Series title run. Their magic number to clinch the postseason is one, meaning they can clinch with a win over the Mariners on Wednesday. Their next task will be to secure the division, which has been a tight race all season long.
